The Game
by Spyder1070
Summary: Russel is reminded why playing games with Murdoc, is not a good idea.
1. Chapter 1

Murdoc, Russel and 2-D are in the games room. 2-D is busy playing a video game, totally engrossed in the characters on the screen. Muds and Russel are playing pool. Murdoc walks round the table, chalking up his cue and studying the positions of the balls on the table. Russel is keeping a close eye on him.

"You havin' a problem there, Russss?" hisses Murdoc, eyeing the large man and smiling. He carefully puts the chalk on the edge of the table.

"I ain't takin' my eye off you for a second. I know you bin cheatin'." answers Russel, folding his arms over his large chest and pursing his lips. Murdoc shoots him an evil smile and blows on the tip of his cue, then runs his tounge over his teeth and smacks his lips. Then slowly bends down to line up his shot. Russel moves impatiently, shifting the weight from one hip to another. Muds looks at him from across the table.

"I don't NEED to cheat tosser. I know how to play. Heh, heh." he says and finally takes his turn. The cue ball flashes across the table, striking his ball with a resounding crack, it strikes two of Russels balls and sends them across the table, one striking one of Muds balls and dropping it nicely into the corner pocket. Muds stands and and smiles triumphantly, shooting Russel a quick smile. Russel tilts his head and sighs heavily. Murdoc has dropped one insult after another, throughout the whole game, that, coupled with 2-Ds constant grunting and the sound coming from the young mans video game, slowly grating on his nerves and wearing him down. Murdoc sees the tired look in Russels eyes. The bassist knows all this and has been using it to win. Murdoc lines up his next shot and knocks one of Russels balls out of shot from the pocket and settles it near the cusion, but fails to pot his own, Not that that bothers the devious old man, as he has nearly snookered Russel in the proccess.

"Can I have my shot now?" says Russel, unfolding his arms, grabbing his cue and moving to step up to the table.

"Wait!" says muds suddenly and holds out his hand. "Lemme just do a running count. I have one ball and the black. You have one, two, three, four balls and the black. That means...Oh! I'm winning, what a lovely surprise. Haw, haw, haw." he sneers and steps back, making a grand gesture to an invisible audience. encouraging silent appraise. "Thank you, thank you. it's been lovely entertaining you all here tonight. No autographs please." This just infuriates Russel further. He stares angrily at muds his eyes flashing and storms over to the table.

"Are you suggestin' I can't count!?" he snaps, his anger almost at breaking point, his patience almost worn thin. The large man grips his cue hard, knuckles straining against his skin. He turns his head sharply in 2-Ds direction and wishing the 'Little blue idiot.' would turn the volume down at least, so he could just think. Murdoc is unfazed by Russels growing fury. He leans against his cue, crosing his ankles and looks down at his filthy nails, yawning.

"Oh no. Not at all." he says, waving the back of his hand towards the table. "Just take yer shot. I'm sure you can catch up. I mean it's only four balls and the black." he continues calmly with a slight chuckle in his voice. Russel grits his teeth.

"Yessssss, level 6!" shouts 2-D suddenly, punching the air.

"Will you shutup!!!!" bellows Russel like a raging bull, turning on the young man. 2-D ducks and scrunches down, turning to see what happened. He looks up from his spot on the floor in front of the television and sees Russel looking larger than ever, breathing hard, nostrils flared, staring down at him. He thinks for a second and slowly moves back a bit further away from the angry, black American.

"Oh sorry." 2-D says in a tiny voice, hoping this doesn't cause Russle to snap and insert him into the wall. Face first. Russel turns back to Murdoc and sees the old mans eyes, glinting like diamonds under his hairline.

"Uh, ah, ahhh." says Muds, wagging his finger from side to side at the infuriated drummer. "Anger and the fine art of pool, just don't go together. You'll miss yer shot you know." he continues, then goes back to studying his nails. Russel knows Muds is stirring. So he takes a large cleansing breath, trying to calm down. He chalks his cue and checks his shot. He can see what Muds has done and knows this will be a tricky shot. If he can hit the edge of his ball just right, he can hook the shot and bounce it off the corner of the pocket cusion and pot the ball. But if he hits it wrong, he'll waste his shot. Or, if he hits the black, he'll give Muds two shots and the game. Muds clears his throat, needling the drummer even further. He glares at the bassist, who just innocently looks at him. Russel lines up and shoots, the cue ball is heading in the right direction, but it has too much speed and Russel knows it. It stikes his ball exactly as predicted and hooks it, but the momentum takes the ball too high and it misses the pocket.

"Oh man." the drummer complains, dropping his face to the table. Murdoc grins and almost does a little dance of joy. Russel, feeling deflated, steps back from the table.

"My turn!" announces Muds brightly. Russels ball now clear, Muds has a straight shot to the pocket.

"Damn!" says Russel, thrusting his fists towards the floor and nearly stamping his foot. Muds takes his shot, slaming the ball home.

"Hmmm. I'm on the black." says Murdoc smiling up at Russel.

"In more ways den one." says Russel under his breath, folding his arms over his chest and leaning heavily on the back of the lounge. Murdoc looks up and purses his lips then lets a strange smile creep across his lips.

"Aww, do I hear sour grapes? Tsk, tsk, tsk." he says, then walks around the table to check his last shot, but sees that Russels free ball has slightly screwed him up. He sneaks a look at him and reaches for the chalk. Russel waits fuming and breathing angrily through his nose. Muds walks back round the table, chalking his cue. 'one more and i'll have him so angry, his head will explode.' thinks the devious old man. He puts the chalk back down on the edge of the table.

"Ya ready?" he says, needling him one last time. That does it. Russel looks away and over his sholder in annoyance. Muds quickly tips the cue ball an inch to the left, giving him a much clearer shot. "No, no. Don't look away. Yer gunna wanna see this." he says, pushing Russel to the breaking point, and almost over the edge completely. Russel looks back completely enraged. He pulls himself up to full height and grinds his teeth, eyes flaming and steam coming out of his ears.

"Just take the damn shot!!!!!!" he roars. Muds complys, slaming the ball home and winning the game.

"Tah dah! I win." says Muds, bowing to his invisible audience and blowing kisses.

"FINE!!!!!!!" snaps Russel slaming the cue down on the table. He storms out, growling like an angry grizzly bear. Murdoc chuckles and walks to the table near the lounge. He reaches down and picks up the $100.00 sitting on it.

"You cheated." says 2-D in a tiny voice, peering up over the top of the lounge. He'd paused the game and had been watching them. Muds shoots him an evil look, before he shoves the money deep into his pocket.

"You tell him and, and, and.... I'll rip yer lungs out!" Muds stammers, annoyed and angry at being caught out. He reaches over the lounge to grab the young man. 2-D lurches back.

"I woz jus' sayin'." says 2-D, throwing his hands up in surrender. Muds just snarls and walks out the room. 2-D shrugs and goes back to his game. "Thats why I won't play you, you cheatin' git. I ain't THAT dumb." he adds quietly and goes back to killing sprites.


	2. Chapter 2

2D is sitting on the lounge in the games room, playing a video game. And Murdoc is laid back in the recliner, half watching the game that the young man is playing, although mostly concentrating on writing down ideas for new songs, in his notebook. Every so often, Murdoc pauses in thought, and chews relentlessly on the end of his pen. Sometimes breaking whole pieces off and spitting them across the room. He stops for a moment and sits more upright in his seat, watching the character 2D is playing, slicing and cutting up, what looks to be a zombie, with a rusty looking machete. The character picks up a shot gun and shoots his way out of the room, and onto a new level. Murdoc sighs and shakes his head, taking the chewed up stub of the pen from his mouth, and pointing at the screen with it.

"Wha, why, didn't ya stay and kill a few more? I would've." asks Murdoc, putting his notebook and pen beside him on the arm of the chair. The old man sits up and crosses his legs, pulling his feet close to his buttocks, as he slips the top half of of his body through the gap and rests his elbows on the footstool. Strangely comfortable, he drops his chin in his palms and stares blankly at the flickering screen. Looking almost like a very relaxed contortionist, he continues watching the character dive-roll behind a vending machine.

"Coz I'd finished that room Muds." 2D answers, staring at the screen. Murdoc smacks his lips and sits up again, closing the footstool of the recliner and sliding forwards in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees, suddenly quite interested. Typically Murdoc didn't tend to find anything 2D did interesting, unless it was something he felt he could beat him in, or it involved a fair degree of violence and gore. But this game seemed to have the player running about, slicing things up into many smaller pieces. And now that the old man was really watching it, it had definitely caught his attention.

"Yeah. But my ways more fun. Heh, heh, heh." says Murdoc, screwing up his face in delight and disgust, as 2D's character, starts cleaving a zombie in two with a chainsaw. "Haw, haw, haw. That guy's gunna 'ave a headache in the mornin'." he adds with a chuckle, pointing to a zombie 2D has just buried an axe into the forehead of. 2D smiles and looks for a moment in Murdoc's direction. The bassist has a wide grin on his face, and his eyes seem to be shining as if full of diamonds. He looks back at the screen, encouraged by Murdoc's sudden interest, and decides for a moment to change tactics. Increasing the amount of violence, to see if he can keep Murdoc's growing interest a little while longer.

"Muds! Watch this." he says smiling brightly. He grabs the flame thrower from his inventory, and sets fire to the zombies closest to his character. They dance erratically on the screen and run into one another, before falling to the floor. 2D smiles and turns back to Murdoc, to see the old mans reaction. The old man breaks into a wide grin, and bursts out laughing, falling back in the chair. 2D smiles broadly.

"Heh, heh. I liked that. Dah, Do it again." he says finally, sitting forwards again. "Git that guy!" Murdoc sneers, pointing at the screen to a large zombie that's missing an arm. 2D, delighted with the attention he's getting from Murdoc, moves his character towards the zombie, slashing the other zombies out of his path with the machete. He pulls out the flamethrower again, and burns the zombie that Murdoc had singled out. It dances erratically and runs straight into a wall. Murdoc laughs again, slapping his knee. 2D beams. The grin on his face so wide, the gap in his front teeth shows. He giggles and wonders, if there is a way of keeping Murdoc this way.

"What other weapons you got?" he asks 2D finally, wiping away a tear. His violent nature peaked, he stands up and moves to sit next to the young man. 2D is perfectly thrilled, he almost can't believe it. _'Muds is really int'rested in sumfink I'm doin'?!'_ he thinks to himself, as he pauses the game and opens the main menu. He pulls up the full weapons list and goes through it with Murdoc, explaining what each weapon does, in as much gory, graphic detail as possible. Knowing the more gore the better where Muds is concerned. Russel walks in, and looks down at the two men huddled together on the floor, then up at the flickering television screen. Letting out a bored sigh and leaning down, putting his hands on the back of the two seater lounge in front of him, and resting most of his weight on it. It lets out a creaking groan as if complaining about the size of the man, but no one seems to notice.

"Aww. You still playin' dat?" Russel says, slightly annoyed. 2D looks up and back at the large man. A little afraid that this might make Murdoc change his mind about the game, but not wanting to annoy Russel by ignoring him either.

"Ah yeah. Why?" asks 2D. The bassist instantly looses interest, and struggles to his feet again, moving back to the recliner, picking up his notebook and pen. 2D looks at Murdoc and sighs. _'Oh well, it woz good while it lasted.' _he thinks sadly, then turns his attention back to Russel.

"I was hopin' you were playin' dat udder game. Dah car one from d'is mornin'." says Russel, walking round the back of the two seater lounge he'd been leaning on, and sitting on it, almost directly behind 2D. Murdoc chews on the end of his pen, breaking off another rather large piece, and spitting it across the room. Russel looks at him annoyed, and furrows his brow. "Will you stop doin dat?" he says screwing up his face in disgust. The old man pulls a face at him and mutters to himself, continuing to chew on the pen anyway.

"Oh i got bored wif it, and put this on instead. I'm nearly finished it." 2D responds, going back into the game to kill more zombies, hoping to peak Muds interest again. But this time Murdoc doesn't look up to the screen, his attention seems completely focused on his writing. Russel leans down and starts looking at the games at his feet, occasionally picking one up and reading the back.

"Yeah, dat's nice." Russel says, slightly distracted by what he's reading. "Whats dis one like?" he continues, holding one of the games out to the young man. 2D pauses the game again and takes it from him. He looks at the cover for a moment and thinks. Going through the long memorized list of games he's played, and pushing his way past the mental fog, until he sees the game clearly in his mind. Almost as if there's a television in his head, with all the games playing, and he has to change the channel, till he finds the right one. He finds it and nods, with a half shrug.

"Oh, it's alright. But I haven't played it much." he answers and hands it back, returning to his game.

"Got any games that involve sex, violence and large amounts of alcohol? Haw, haw, haw." Murdoc suddenly pipes up, not looking up from his notebook. 2D doesn't hear him and continues to play, but Russel does, and although he rolls his eyes, he decides to play with the bassist anyway.

"Yep!" says Russel reading the back of another of 2D's games. Murdoc instantly looks up and tries to see, which game Russel is holding. "It's called, 'Murdoc Nicaals visits the gynecologist, and gets a Scotch enema." the drummer continues, pretending to read out the name. Murdoc slowly sits back, as it occurs to him that Russel is teasing, and snarls. The drummer lowers the game and chuckles to himself.

"Oh, ha, ha. You're so funny, I burst a kidney." Murdoc growls sarcastically, looking at Russel from under his hairline, with his eyes flaming violently. "Bah! If you were any funnier, eh. I'd hafftah consider gettin' my funny bone insured." he continues, pulling his lips back over his razor sharp teeth and slitting his eyes.

"Oh yeah!?" answers the large man, tossing the game he was holding back onto the pile. He looks over at Murdoc, who's know laid back on the recliner, as if a king on his throne. His arms laid on the arms of the chair, gripping the ends with his talon like finger nails.

"Yeah!" answers Murdoc sharply, with his chin resting against his chest. Suddenly he sits up and tosses the notebook and pen aside. "Hey Russssss. I got a game for ya. 'Russel Hobbs goes to the plastic surgeon and is rejected fer lipo. Coz they don't 'ave enough tanker lorries, to take away the excess.... From his arse alone!" Murdoc hisses and stands up, challenging the large man. Russel slowly rises, seeming to grow even taller than normal. But Murdoc doesn't seem to be fazed by this, and stands his ground, emitting a low threatening growl. Russel growls back, lower and deeper than the old man, and they stand there a moment, eyes slitted and fists clenched. 2D, realizing this could get really ugly, really quick. Saves his game, switches off the console, quickly gathering up his games in his arms. He moves to a much safer spot, on the armchair across the room from the two angry men, not wanting to be in the middle of the two when they explode.

"You sayin' I'm fat!!?" snarls Russel, stepping forwards, balling his hands into tight fists, as if ready to bring down a blow on the bassist.

"You sayin' I need an enema!!?" snarls Murdoc, doing the same. The bassist shows no fear at all, his eyes flaming and fists clenched so tight, that blood begins trickling from his palms, and dripping onto the floor by his booted feet.

The two men now stand face to face, toe to toe, so close that their stomachs touch as they breathe. Russel's nostrils flare like a raging bulls, his breath moving Murdoc's hair slightly. The bassist drops his head slightly, and looks deep into Russel's vacant white eyes, almost pressing his nose against the drummers, trying to psych him out. But Russel remains unmoved. So they stand there together. Two angry statues, poised on the brink of war. 2D looks from one to the other and back again, not able to understand why this keeps happening. He imagines a lovely, quiet place, deep in his mind and zones out into it.

"No!" Russel eventually snaps at the old man, through clenched teeth.

"Me either!" Murdoc snaps back.

"Fine!" Russel replies snarling.

"Same here!" snaps Murdoc, re-clenching his fists, which are continuing to drip with blood, that has formed two small pools on the floor beside him.

"Good!" Russel replies with a growl.

"Yeah!" Murdoc adds, sneering.

They stay perfectly still for a heartbeat more. Then as if somewhere in their mind, a signal only heard by the two men sounds. They break and step away, to return to their former positions. Russel storms from the room, and Murdoc returns to the recliner. Noodle passes Russel as he walks out, she sees Murdoc in the recliner writing, and 2D zoned in the armchair, gripping his games tight. She smiles and sets up on of her games on the video console, oblivious to the near war she just missed.


End file.
